A Separation

First, I loved how incredibly simple this was as a cinematic production. There was no score, no fancy graphics or expensive props. Every scene felt as though I was there as a bystander with an iPhone, who just happened to be present and recording as each scene unfolded. Maybe it was a budget decision, but not letting fancy camera work or scenery get in the way of the writing and the acting was the best possible approach for this film. The moral knots it wove though, those were complex. Never once in the entire film did a character do something that made me question their moral compass. But yet, I had to watch as each character suffered when their perfectly rational, selfless decisions, caused harm in ways they could never foresee. It caused me to care about these characters, whom I honestly have very little in common, as their struggles cut to my core. What do good people do when entrenched in a legal system that asks the grey to be either black or white? What do good people do when forced to choose between telling the truth as an example to their children and lying to protect what they believe is objectively right? What do good people do when blame needs to be assigned to bring closure, but all people are good and no one is to blame? A separation, between husband and wife sure, but also between right and wrong, law and morality, and class and opportunity, not to mention subtle physical separations that brilliantly drive the overarching and gripping feeling of real strife in every character. A movie about which I'll think, and feel, for a long time.